Running Away
by Lilyssy
Summary: AU. In a ruined galaxy, they meet and fall in love, making a decision: never reveal one's past to the other. Time passes and they start living again, until the day when imperial troopers show up at their home. DO they come for him or do they come for her? It doesn't matter, from this moment on, they have to run away again. To save their lives, despite their secrets. Anidala.
1. idden

Category: Romance (Anidala), Drama, Adventure.

Timeline: It is very AU, in a galactic context it might take place 5 years after the rise of the Empire.

Disclaimer: Star Wars (universe, characters...) is the property of George Lucas and I don't earn any money to write this fiction, only for my entertainment and yours, hopefully. Only the storyline of this fiction and the few characters I created are mine.

Author's note: Well, i've been reading a lot of Star Wars fanfictions lately and I eventually decided to write my own. This fiction is my first long fiction in english. Indeed, I'm French and it's the first time I start a long story in another language. i haven't found a beta reader yet so there are still some spelling and grammatical mistakes in my chapters. I hope it won't annoy you, I do my best. And if someone is interested to become a betareader... Let me know! :-)

This fiction takes place in an alternative universe. Most of the important events (Clone Wars, rise of the Empire, Great Jedi Purges…) happened. Anakin and Padmé's story changes a lot though. I don't want to tell you everything about it now, to keep the little suspense I managed to create – hopefully. But you should know that Anakin is a Jedi Knight of the old order, Padmé is the former Senator of Naboo and they have never met before the events of this fiction. But I think things will get clearer with the story :-)

To finish with, this story is rated T for the moment. There's angst, drama, strong language and certain scenes of violence, however, I don't think the rating M is required for the moment. I'll see in the future.

Yep, now here's the first chapter. I hope you're gonna enjoy it and really, let me know if I should continue or not. This story takes me a lot of time, given that I have to check a couple of words or expressions to make my English as good as possible. But if I know there'll be people to read it and to review, it'll help me far beyond words.

Enjoy,

Lily.

oxoOoxo

Running Away

oxoOoxo

Chapter 1 - Hidden

{Anakin's POV}

"Brayden, hurry up! You still have to repare propulsors on Ollander's speeder! He's coming to take it back tonight and I don't want to explain him that my mecanic is as slow as a Sluissi!"

I got my head out from under the speeder I was working on and glanced at the entrance of the workshop. The tall figure of Alrick Holden was annoyingly staring at me, hands on his hips. I inwardly winced at his words... As slow as a Sluissi... They were famous to be slow, indeed. But it was also a sort of compliment given that Sluissi were known to be very good mecanics and very calm and patient. I sometimes wished I was as patient as they were...

"Stop staring at me like that and go back to work!" yelled the Nothoiin.

His words brought me back to reality and I quickly slid back under the speeder. I felt my boss leaving the workshop and I allowed myself a sigh. I sometimes felt like back on Tatooine when I was still working at Watto's junk shop as a slave, even my memories of that time were only blur images now. Alrick was actually more a slave trader than an employer, mostly with regard to the pittance I earned working for him.

I went back to work and quickly fixed the problem on the speeder before going out from under the vehicle. I wiped my dirty hands on my trousers and drank a couple of sips from the bottle of water I always kept around. After that little break, I took my toolbox and started working on Ollander's speeder as Alrick asked me. The day was far from over.

It actually ended a couple of hours later when Alrick decided it was time to close the shop. He nearly kicked me out, saying I had worked enough for the day and I could go home. I held back a sigh of relief and put my tools away before getting changed. I didn't even say goodbye to Alrick and left the shop without any further ado.

It was already dark when I went out of the little building. I looked up at the sky where hundreds of speeders were flying and I finally started walking to the nearest public transport stop. Alrick's shop was located in the shopping area of the town and I had almost one hour of transport to reach my flat. Well if I could call "flat" the slum I lived in...

Soon enough, I reached a turbolift and I used it to go up to the stop on the platform. When I arrived, I noticed few people were already waiting. Two teenage girls carrying shoping bags were cheerfully talking while a rather small man was complaining about the slowness of public transports and how crowded they were at the rush hours. The person who the man was talking to was as silent as the grave and when I saw he was a Sluissi, a little smile appeared on my face and I remembered Alrick's words. Yeah, they definitely had a legendary patience. If I had been him, I would have already been pissed off and I would had told the complaining man to shut up and leave me alone.

i didn't wait long and the transport arrived pretty quickly. I got on the airbus with the other people and it started up again. I tried to find a seat in the crowded transport, I wouldn't have minded a bit of rest after this tiring day. Miraculously, I found a free seat and I hurried up to take it. The Force was with me tonight.

I sighed delightedly and stretched out my legs. I rarely managed to find a place to sit down on the way back. Most of the time, I was sandwiched between people I didn't even know during the whole journey. But seems like it was my lucky day.

I rested my forehead against the window and looked outside absentmindedly. In the dark sky, lights of the speeders flying from the opposite direction formed a sort of uninterrupted luminous line that hypnotised me. The trafic wasn't as important as on Coruscant but the capital was full of activity.

I had been living on Gerrenthum as Akin Brayden for almost three years now. It hadn't been easy to build this false identity but after spending two years traveling around the Galaxy to escape the Empire, I couldn't take anymore of that situation. I had chosen Gerrenthum for its location on the Outer Rim and had decided to start a new life there.

I had spent a few days hanging around on the poorest areas of the capital to find someone who would accept to make me false identity papers. After three days and a little bit of help from the Force, I had gotten it. I wasn't sure that my former master would have approved my way of using the Force but it was a necessity for my safety.

Once I had my new ID papers, I had started looking for a job. I had always been rather good in mecanics - in all modesty - and I had thought that working for a repairer could be a good idea. I had finally found my job at Alrick's shop and even the pay wasn't fabulous, it was enough to pay food and the rent of my flat. As tiny as it could be, I had somewhere to live and I wasn't homeless.

Life was quite simple. Not easy, not exciting and far from what I had before the rise of the Empire. But at least I was safe. Everyday, I woke up, had breakfast, went to work until the evening and went home to have supper and sleep. I sometimes went out in a bar nearby, a nice tiny place I found a few weeks after I arrived on Gerrenthum. The staff was quite nice and above all, they had never ask questions about my past. That was my daily routine and I accepted it. I didn't have any other choice anyway.

I think the worst thing was loneliness. At first, I had been relieved to be safe and glad to not be no longer on the run. I had savoured the feeling of being able to walk on the streets among other people without having a squadron of clones after me. I hadn't lived in a proper place for more than two years and it was fabulous for me to have a place to call my own.

Then, as time ran out, I realised I was on my own, totally alone. I didn't know anyone on Gerrenthum and contacting my friends would have been too dangerous. For them and for myself. At first, I had thought I would get used of the loneliness. And I did. Most of the time, I didn't even think about it. I woke up, work and started again the day after in a boring but safe routine.

I finally started talking with other people. Not Alrick, my boss wasn't really the talkative type. But at the bar I used to go after work, I met a couple of usual customers, as I was. It wasn't all about drinking to forget the misery of our lives. We just met there twice or three times a week and talk about everything and nothing. Our jobs, our lives, sometimes our family, the Empire... We were all broken in our own way but during those meetings we stocked up on human warmth and reassuring smiles.

I didn't know if I could call them my friends. Well, they were all I had on this planet but I couldn't compare my relationship with them to what I shared with my old friends and my master. I couldn't trust them enough to reveal my past, my true identity. They knew I was hiding something from them but they had never blamed me. It was a hard time for all of us in the end.

Despite their presence, I was really alone. I missed my former life, even last years of the Republic hadn't been the best. The Clone Wars, battles... But at that time, I had a home, somewhere I felt well and safe. I had friends to rely on. Everything was gone now. The Empire had taken all these things away. Everything, everyone I cared about had disappeared I even didn't know where, letting a deep hole in my life. I hated the Emperor, I hated the Empire with all my heart. I knew hatred wasn't a healthy feeling but I couldn't help it.

After long minutes, I finally arrived at my stop. I weaved through the crowd to reach the doors and I Managed to go out of the airbus. I shivered when I felt the cold wind blowing around me. The streets were crowded with a lot of people, most of them had just finished their day of work, like me. I mingled with the crowd and I wondered if I would go back to my place before meeting the others. I decided to go straight to the bar because I was so tired that if I sat on my sofa even for a couple of minutes only, I would never get up until the next morning. So I made my way to the bar.

When I came inside, I felt the usual atmosphere of the bar surrounding me. Its warmth contrasting with the coolness outside, usual noises of conversations and low musical background. I knew this place by heart now and it always brought me a sort of comfort, a guiding light in my meaningless existence. I looked around for a free table and my eyes met those of a rather tall black haired man that I recognised instantly. He waved at me and I headed to his table.

"Tallan." I greeted my friend, sitting down opposite him.

"Akin, how are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine but rather tired, Alrick made me work like a slave today." I answered whilst I was making a sign to the barmaid to order a drink.

The Twi'lek female, Andra, headed to our table and greeted me with a smile. She was the first person I met right after I found my flat, three years ago and she had always been sweet and kind of protective with me. She was only a few years older than me and she had always acted in a big sister way. It didn't bother me though. I would never admit it to anyone - as proud and as independent as I was - but it was comforting to have someone who cared about me like she did. She had never imposed herself in my life, she was only a kind look over me and I knew I could talk to her if I needed. Well, at least I would if I actually confided in her.

"What do you want to drink?" she asked.

"A beer." I answered.

"Oh, what's happening? Akin Brayden ordering a beer?" Tallan said sarcastically.

"Very funny." I retorted rolling my eyes. "I had a long day and I need to relax, there's no big deal."

"So I bring you a beer." Andra smiled to calm us down.

She headed to the bar and I turned back at Tallan. We started talking about our day, our jobs... Tallan was a taxi driver, one of the rare remaining human ones, they were mostly droids now. Tallan had told me he was once a pilot, working for a transports company. He drove ships, used for interplanetary journeys. In the early months of the Empire, his employers had been suspected of transporting illegal goods. The company had been liquidated and all the employees had lost their job. At that moment, Tallan was forced to leave is home planet and moved on Gerrenthum.

He was always the one with interesting things to share about his day. I spent mine fixing stuff in the workshop and speeders had never been very talkative. Tallan's clients were, though. They were our greatest source of news on what had happened recently in the Galaxy. Our access to the HoloNet was actually limited. I didn't hav a Holonet station in my flat and, even we could watch it as much as we wanted, informations were very likely restrained by imperial censorship.

That day, Tallan reported me the most recent events but nothing interesting had occured except a couple of commercial bills and some other measures restraining our already limited freedom. The Emperor had addressed a speech during a session in the Senate, reaffirming his will to stop any form of rebellion or any act commited against peace and security in the Empire. Nothing good for a fugitive like me. I wondered if there was still a bounty on my head... I should check it out some day.

Andra eventually brought my beer and we exchanged a couple of words. As she had to come back to work, I kept talking with Tallan until another person joined us.

Niala was another member of our little group. She was a Togruta from Shili and like many of us, she had been forced to leave her home world to save her life. Nearly three years ago, a wave of protestation started arousing amongst several tribes on Shili. Togrutas were usually pacific but since the rise of the Empire, non-human species were unfairly treated without any restrictions from the Empire, which even encouraged that kind of behaviours. Several species like Twi'lek or Togruta were even sold into slavery, mainly by the Hutts.

Indignant of the Empire's lack of reaction, some clans started to display their anger. Unfortunately, stopping any form of rebellion was one of Palpatine's priorities. Soon after the beginning of the protestations, imperial troups had been sent on Shili and the protesting clans were attacked. One of those tribes was Niala's.

I remembered the day when she told me her story. I had been utterly chocked by the Empire's repression but not really surprised in the end. I had seen the raise of that totalitarian regime, throughout the Clone Wars and then when I had been hunted all around the Galaxy by imperial troups who wanted me dead or alive. I admired Those Togruta's bravery, deciding to challange the control of the Empire must have been a hard choice. As an old slave, I hated slave traders and those who permitted it to exist with all my heart. There was nothing worst than being deprived of your freedom; freedom to act, to speak, to think on your own. Being nothing but a good, not a person, an object.

It was true that I had been a slave for only five years, until Master Jinn found me on Tatooine and free me. But I still remembered when my mum and I were still property of Gardula and she used to batter us whenever she was displeased with someting or someone. That cruelty and that sadistic contentment in her eyes. i could feel it through the Force, even at that time I didn't know I was using it. It was painful, dark and revolting.

It was my old life as a slave which allowed me to understand Niala's tribe protestation. Most of people thought slavery was revolting. But you can't truely understand how much it is indeed revolting, humiliating and condamnable as long as you hadn't been a slave yourself.

Hours that followed were really delightful. It was always good to spend some time with my friends here, they were my light in my lonely existence, as melodramatic as it sounded. I knew I had never been totally honest with them about my past and my real identity. They knew me as Akin Brayden and they always would. I couldn't reveal them my true name was Anakin Skywalker. It'd have been too dangerous, for me and even for them.

As it was getting late, I started to feel the fatigue overcome me. I had a long day at work and we were talking for nearly three hours now. I glanced at my chrono and I saw it was already past midnight.

"I'm sorry but I think I should go home and get some rest..." I admitted to Tallan and Niala. "I start at dawn tomorrow and I'm not sure that Alrick would be pleased if I felt asleep under a speeder."

"Again." Tallan added jokingly.

"Hey, it's only happened once!" I retorted. "And only because you kept me up all the previous night for I know which criffing reason."

"Language." Andra reprimanded me.

"Her voice made me start, I hadn't hear her arrived. My reflexes were slowly disintegrating because of my lack of training... I should start meditating again, really. Even i didn't like meditation that much.

"Ok, I'm leaving, nobody wants me here any longer." I stated dramatically.

"Oh poor Akin, he's such a victim." Tallan joked.

"Get lost."

"Language!" Andra and Nialia said as one.

"I love you both too." I replied, flashing a silly grin at them. "Well, have a good night all, see ya."

"See ya." Niala greeted.

"Bye." Andra and Tallan added.

I waved at them and headed to the door. The cold wind outside made me shiver so I rearranged my cloak around my shoulders and started walking to the nearest public transport stop.

Streets was significantly less crowded than three hours before. Only a couple of people were there, silently heading to their destination, eyes stuck on the ground. It was an attitude that the most of people adopted around there. Those streets weren't a secure place and it was possible to meet individuals of doubtful reputation. I walked looking straight in front of me, though. But I'd always been reckless and it wasn't a bunch of rabbles that would scare me.

"Your pride, Anakin. Some day, it'll be the death of you... Or me, most likely." I imagined my former master's voice stating

Criffing old lectures. Even after all those years I could still hear him in my head. I wondered if it was a mark of insanity... But he'd reprimanded me so many time about my recklessness or my lack of reflexions during my apprenticeship that his words would be stuck in my subconcious for the rest of my life.

I smiled at the thought of my old master. I missed him, very much. Despite our frequent arguments and disagreements, he had been my mentor for over a decade and had taught me everything he knew. I respected him deeply for everything he had done for me. I missed him, my old friends, my home... But sadness had already started to fade away, replaced by a sort of melancoly. A bittersweet melancoly.

I was lost in my memories when I felt a sudden surge in the Force. I froze, alert. I hadn't felt something similar for ages and my attention focused on that feeling instantly, my sens of danger had always been great. And really helpful in many occasions.

I closed my eyes and reached into the Force to scan my surrounding. My eyes snapped open when I feel another flash of danger. But it wasn't for me. It was for someone else and the Force wanted me to follow it. As did I.

The danger came from two blocks away. I silently headed towards that direction, as fast as I could. I soon could hear blaster shots. That wasn't a good sign at all...

"I had a very bad feeling about this..." I grumbled in my teeth.

But I kept running anyway. I had to follow the call of the Force as I always did. As I got closer to where the danger emanated, I recognised the sound of imperial blasters. Very bad feeling...

I turned at the corner of a street and I stopped abruptly, rooted to the spot with surprise - and maybe with fear - by what I saw before me.

"For Force's sake..." I thought, speechless.


	2. When we first met

Hello all,

I've never thought studying abroad would take me so much time and I wouldn't be able to finish my chapter sooner. I know it takes a lot of time to come but it is here, the second chapter of this fiction. I'm back from the United Kingdom and after Christmas, I'll have more time to write... well, I sincerely hope I will. It is my last year in undergraduate and I found a job of volunteer radio journalist so I'll be busy but less than during this first term so it'll be easier.

Enough random talking, I really, truely, deeply wanted to thank the people who take some time to let a review, I really appreciated and enjoyed your comments. Jokomambe (tiens je ne pensais pas que j'aurais des lecteurs(trices) francophones mais merci beaucoup pour ta review et tes encouragements, voilà la suite, j'espère qu'elle te plaira tout autant:), Ambre (merci à toi aussi), CommChatter (thanks for your review and the few mistakes you pointed out, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter), GP (sorry for my late update, I hope you're gonna like it, thanks for reviewing), Elma Trisara (thank you, hope you'll like this one too.) I reply to you here as I'm writing this author note on the train with any Internet access even I know this site doesn't really allow it, I'll reply by PM the next time for those who have an account :).

Well, that's all for this note, I hope you're going to love this chapter, let me know what you think really, thanks also to the people who added this fiction in their alerts and favourite, you can also let a little review, I swear I don't bite ;)

Oh and of course, merry Christmas all!

Take care, Lily.

oxoOoxo

Running Away

oxoOoxo

Chapter 2 - "When we first met"

{Padmé's POV]

I furtively glanced over my shoulder as I got out of the southern spaceport of the capital city on Gerrenthum. I mingled with the massive crowd of travelers, trying to be as discrete as possible. It had become a kind of second nature for those past four years, being a silhouettes amongst silhouettes, as silent as a windblow, having to merge into the shadow to remain hidden. It was a matter of life and death for me and I'd learnt quickly to keep a law profile.

The sun was shining as I stepped out of the spaceport and I stopped a second just to enjoy the warm sensation on my skin. A little smile appeared on my face, and I thought it'd been a long time since I last smiled. i couldn't stay there any longer though, keep moving and avoiding any imperial attention. Not that a woman standing and enjoying the sun was something unusual but you never knew.

I started heading to the nearest public transport stop, remembering the instructions that my contact had given me. I had never been on Gerrenthum before but I had to adapt very quickly as I always did when I arrived on a new planet and I'd gotten used to it. I waited for a couple of minutes before an airbus arrived. I got inside and found a free spot to sit. I didn't know how long it would take to reach my destination then I kept a look on the names of the stations displayed on a little screen. The transport wasn't too crowded, it was the middle of the afternoon and the rush hours were still a couple of hours ahead.

My journey didn't last long and I came out of the airbus after twenty minutes only. I looked around me to see I'd arrived in a rather crowded area. Buildings were igh but not very recent and all sort of species - humans, humanoids and aliens - composed the crowd. It looked like one of the middle-class level back on Coruscant. Not the lowest, the poorest or the most dangerous but people who lived there weren't rich for sure. Shops of all sorts, dinners, bars and blocks of studios and little flats shared the space.

With a glance, I quickly checked if there was any imperial presence around there and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I started walking in the direction of my hostel, following the indications I had recieved. I had memorised them during my trip on the cargo ship before destroying the datapad that my contact had given me. I was used to this process, getting informations on a place to stay for a couple of days - of weeks when I was lucky enough - then destroying all traces of those informations and moving to another planet. I'd been on the run for the four past years and I was really tired of it. Unfortunately I had not other choices if I wanted to stay alive. I hadn't seen my family for almost two years and I really missed them. But I did the best for them and their safety.

I eventually reached my destination and I stood in front of the entrance for a moment. The hostel was far from luxurious but that was the kind of place where I usually staid on all the different planets I visited. I came back to reality and went up the steps before pushing the door and entering the hostel.

I arrived in a tiny and rather insalubrious loby. In front of me was the reception desk behind which a Nothoiin and a dark haired human woman were playing cards, distractedly following a program on the HolloNet. They were actively talking about something apparently important but they stopped when they heard me arriving. The human scowled but her Nothoiin companion flashed a fake smile at me and greeted me, feigning joy.

"Hiya Miss, welcome to our humble hostel, what can we do for ya?" he asked, his accent very hearable in his basic.

"I booked a room." I replied with a vague smile, trying to stick with the role I had to play.

This time, my false identity was the one of a young widowed woman in her late twenties who recently left her home planet of Corellia after loosing her husband and her two years old son in a speeder accident. With the death of her beloved, she'd lost everything and unable to find a job in Correllia, she decided to move to a new world.

What's ya name?"

"Ami Elley." I replied.

I saw the Nothoiin looking in a datapad supposedly containing the booking list and when he found my name, he looked up at me.

"Indeed, ya name's on the list." he nodded. "Ya have room 154." he added. "Ayrin can ya bring Missus Elley to her room?"

The dark haired woman grumbled something inintelligible but still grasped the electronic key her boss was holding out to her.

"Follow me." she told me without any amability in her tone.

I said nothing and indeed followed her. We headed to some stairs on our left, the building was apparently devoid of any type of lift. We went up two floors before reaching a narrow corridor. I was still following my improvised guide who staid silent. She finally stopped in front of the door n°154 and put the electronic key into the lock. She pushed the door and exaggeratingly invited me in, as if I was a prestigious guest of some sort. I smiled inwardly, if only she knew...

I entered the room and looked around me to get a quick checking of what would be my home for as long as possible. Behind me, the woman was still silent. I turned to her and she just hold out the key to me.

"If you need anything the reception is open twenty four hours a day."

"And how many standard hours are there in a day on this planet?" I asked in a sort of reflexe.

She stared at me for a moment as if I was stupid and she eventually answered with a condescending tone.

"Twenty four standard hours, ma'am."

"Thank you." I replied, trying to not sound exasperated.

She shrugged and turned back to go out of the room. When the door slid close behind her, I sighed. I dropped my little travel bag on the floor and fell on the bed, even not paying attention to the firmness of the matress. I looked around me again and noticed the state of my room. It wasn't at bad at I'd thought it would be. The walls painting was indeniably faded and there were some little cracks here and there but the room was surprisingly cosy. I may be liking this place in the end.

I stood up and headed to the fresher. i put some water on my face and the cool sensation on my skin was more than welcome. I looked up at the mirror and stared at my reflection for a while.

In front of me, a woman was staring back at me with piercing dark eyes. They used to be luminous brown, my mother sometimes said they showne with an endless joy when I addressed speeches at the time I was Queen of Naboo. Now, they were darker, almost black, the light of passion was long gone, only remained DISTRUST, lassitude and a touch of cynic resignation. My hair were black, a colour I made just before boarding the cargo ship when I left Talasea where I'd met my contact. My skin was pale of the lack of sun as I had spent the last six weeks in Cloud City on Bespin and I looked almost like a ghost.

A self-deprecating smiled appeared on my lips. I knew I was no longer the beautiful Padmé Amidala, Senator of naboo in the Galactic Senate. It wasn't misplaced pride, I had heard several of my colleagues in the Senate talking of my so called beauty over the years and I was aware of it, in all modesty. I didn't think I was the most beautiful woman of the Galaxy, far from that. But I'd seen the effect I had on some men and, i admitted it, I sometimes used it in my advantage.

I looked away from the mirror and went back to my room. I started unpacking my few belongings and put them in the little wardrobe. I only possessed a few practical pieces of cloth, two pairs of functional shoes and a few things to do my hair but nothing sofisticated. It was far from all the luxurious robes, dresses and all the paraphernalia I used to have when I was queen and senator of my home planet. I loved the clothing and all the hair stuff, I was a woman after all. But I knew I could no longer use it as I was running away all around the Galaxy.

The last thing I unpacked was the blaster I always kept hidden on me. I learnt to use it during the training I received before starting my senatorial service in order to protect myself. I was even rather good in using a blaster as well as hand to hand combat. I had underestimated it during my years as a politician, except for defending myself against men, too insist for their own good.

Over the last four years, though, I'd been very greatful for this training. Before, I wouldn't willingly have engaged myself in a fight. I was a defender of discussion, negociations and diplomacy, I was even known in the Senate for this aspect of my personnality, my campaign against the Military Creation Act just before the Clone Wars prooved it enough. That was before. Before the rise of the Empire, before Palpatine, the Chancellor of the Great Galactic Republic I personnally recommanded when the Trade Federation invaded Naboo, before that traitor became Emperor.

At the thought of Palpatine, I felt a rush of rage raising in my chest and I fisted my hands. Force, I hated that criffing Sith bastard with all my heart. It was because of him. All the current misery of the Galaxy was his fault. Greed for power, disdain for vital principles such as freedom and justice, rule of fear... That was what controled the Galaxy for five years now. Palpatine led his Empire with an iron fist, even the most remote systems submitted to his leadership. Nothing remained of the Republic.

Sadness soon replaced anger and I headed to the only window of the room. I rested my forehead against the glass and looked down the street, still full of people. It was already getting dark but we weren't on the highest levels of the city then the sun disappeared earlier. This place reminded me of Coruscant somehow and a wave of nostalgy crossed my body. My years as the Senator of Naboo had been far from quiet. Between the assassination attempts, the creation of the Clone Army, the war... But I enjoyed living in Capital City, at 500 Republica and i missed it.

I remembered all those days spend in the Senate, trying to privilege peaceful negociations above battles. How many billions lives had been lost, wasted, during those three years? Clone troopers, civilians... Even jedi who had always been guardians of peace and justice had been forced to join the fight. All those losses for nothing. How could we have known all that mess was part of Palpatine's plan? That while we were distracted fighting for our beloved Republic, he was taking control of the Galaxy, abusing our confidence in him? We should have known. I ignored how, but we should have known.

This war had been meaningless from the beginning but it was only the result of our long corrupted system. Until the last hours of the Republic, I believed democracy would succeed, the darkness couldn't win. I refused to admit that the system I loved for so long was already falling apart before my eyes,that I couldn't do anything to help it. I'd even hoped that peace would return and the Republic would raise again.

The day Palpatine proclaimed the Empire had been the worst day of my life. It was no longer possible to deny it was the end, the end of this Republic billions of people had given their life for. That was the day our freedom died.

I knew my words sounded like those of a hopeless woman. And that was true: during the early weeks of the Empire, Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, other senators and I secretly met up to organize a rebellion. The flame of democracy and our greed for liberty was still burning in us. But now, five years later, that flame no longer existed in my heart. All that time I had spent traveling from a planet to another to stay alive killed the faith I had in a possible return of democracy. The Empire was too strong. Maybe that flame still remained, in the depths of my broken soul. But it wasn't the time for it to burn again. Today, i was just tired of fleeing, I just wanted to find a secure place, be safe and start living again. No more political aspirations, just the wish for a quiet life. i just wanted the Empire to forget me... But I wouldn't be forgotten after what I'd done...

I remembered the day other loyalist senators like me discovered Palpatine's real role in all that mess, the part he played long before he took over and I remembered the feeling of despair I felt. We already knew the Emperor had been manipulating us all that time. But we didn't know how much it was true. Only a couple of people knew the truth, but we never spreaded it out. Proclaiming such facts in a Galaxy where the Empire ruled everything would have been suicide. Yet it was impossible for us to stay still, with this orrible truth before our eyes. We tried something... But I didn't want to think of it. That had been the most stupid thing we ever decided, a thoughtless decision, the actions of a bunch of despaired people. And I was paying the price today.

I looked away from the window and checked my chrono, it was almost the time for supper. My stomach confirmed it, making a strange noise and I decided to go out of here to get something to eat. I slipped into my black cloack, put my false ID papers and some credits in a pocket and put my blaster in another.

I went down the stairs and passed near the reception desk where the black haired woman which greeted me earlier was still watching the HolloNet, now alone. I didn't even paid attention to her and I headed outside.

The cool air made me shiver and I looked up at the sky to see it was now dark. I started walking, looking all around me to find a place where I could eat. The crowd was more important than before and I felt kind of safe. I got to love crowded place with the four past years, it was harder to find someone in the middle of other hundreds people.

I finally found a dinner which looked nice. I decided to stop there and pushed the door to come in. The place was almost full but there were still available tables here and there. I sat at one of them and soon enough a droid went to take my order. I glanced at the menu and after I said what I'd like to eat, the droid left.

I took my meal in silence, rather obvious as I was alone. Silence and loneliness had been my most faithful companions for all those years and I was accustomed to their presence. I had never allowed myself to become attached to another being of who I could put life at risk, then I remained mostly alone... Force, I sounded so desperate! Pitiful me...

Once I had finished my dish, I decided to go back to my room. I was really tired after the long trip from Talasea and my glum mood didn't help at all. I paid my meal and went out of the dinner without any further ado. I started walking along the pavement, less crowded than before. I was lost in my thoughts and didn't realise I just passed my hostel. I kept walking, deep in my memories when I stopped and looked up around me.

I was no longer on the main avenue but in a rather narrow and deserted street. I'd been so distracted I didn't realise I'd passed my destination. I chided myself inwardly and turned round to go back where I came from. And that was when I heard it.

At first, i wasn't sure of what I heard but the noise was getting closer and there was soon no doubt about what it was. Sound of boots heels on the ground. Boots beating a regular step.

My blood ran cold. I knew this noise. Too much.

It was the noise of a squad of troopers. Imperial stormtroopers.

And they were there for me. or if they weren't, they would discover who I was soon enough. I no longer thought and started running in the opposite direction. I didn't know where I was going but the most important was to go as far as possible. I run down some streets, my surrounding getting darker and darker as I moved forward. Running, running... Do nothing than running.

I acted by instincts but it seemed it'd just failed me when I stopped, a wall blocking the way. It was a cul-de-sac. I looked frantically around me, seeking for an exit. It couldn't be... I couldn't die like that. After four years fleeing around the Galaxy, I couldn't be captured by the Empire because of a criffing cul-de-sac!

I spotted several containers on the right and headed toward them, hidding myself behind. I heard the stormtroopers entering the alley and I silently grasped my blaster, ready to fight. I knew they weren't stupid enough to believe I had simply vanished. There was nowhere to go except the place where I was hidden. Then I had to move quickly to take them by surprise.

"Amidala, we know you are here." one of the troopers said in a clear but firm tone. "You must be tired of running, surrender and we will be indulgent."

I laughed inwardly. Indulgent, after what I'd done, seriously? I knew imperial troopers weren't the most intelligent people of the Galaxy but some of their reflexions still made me wince. And after all that time they still didn't know I would have prefered to die than surrender...

I suddenly bounced from behind the containers and didn't let them time to react. i had shot two guards before they could even move then I saw there were only two of them left. I could have felt offended of being still underestimated after all that time if I wasn't already trying to survive. After four years and all the stormtroopers I'd left empty-handed behind me, they still only sent four men to capture me? So unpleasent.

The two men left were quicker than me and i eard a blaster shoot passing close to my head... Too close. I shot back but they had the time to hide themselves and one of their shot had destroyed the biggest containers I'd been hiding behind. I rushed towards what there was left of my hiding place and the exchange of blaster shots started again.

My hearts beat furiously in my chest as the adrenalin ran into my veins. It'd been a long time I last felt that sensation of emergency. Even I was under pressure all the time, my last encounter with imperial troops had been a few months prior. I was relieved to see my reflexes hadn't disappeared. Shoot, hide, avoid attacks, shoot again... I was acting by instincts, like I was a droid and defending myself had been a program installed in my system. It was sometimes scary to see ow killing someone to survive no longer disturbed my conscience. I was the kind of person who think every life was precious. Imperial troops were only obeiding orders after all, they had nothing personnal against me and they didn't deserve to die. During the war, I'd learnt that sacrifices were often - too often - necessary for the greater good. But I had never became accustomed to it. And then, fleeing forced me to make concessions. The conditions I lived in didn't allow me to spare the life of people who tried to capture me and I became what I scared the most. I didn't take any pleasure in killing clones but for my conscience it was no longer cold blood murder.

A well placed shot suddenly hit the container I was still hidden behind and the chock of the explosion sent me a few meters away. My back hit the ground hard and I winced with pain. I stood as quick a I could to see the two clones pretty close. I shot the one on the right but I missed him. Stang, what was wrong with me?

I didn't see or hear the next shot of the other trooper, too focused on his companion. I only noticed it when I felt a sudden and violent pain in my abdomen. Totally flabbergasted, I staid still for a second. The impact of the laserball made me stagger and I almost released my blaster. That short moment of distraction was enough for the other clone to shoot me on the knee and I collapsed on the ground with a groan of pain.

My instinct screamed to run but that was useless, I was still on that bloody cul-de-sac with two troopers between me and the only exit. I knew that time it was the end. I couldn't understand why I hadn't managed to get myself out of there, I survived worst situations during the four past years. I was true I was physically and mentally tired but I'd thought the adrenalin would give me enough energy to escape... I'd been mistaken, apparently.

I looked down on my abdomen to see blood on the one of my hands that was pressuring the wound. My knee hurt like hell and the pain was beating in my whole body as the same furious speed as my heart. I was almost sure the first shot had reached a vital organ, my stomach or something around, concidering all the blood I was loosing. The fear kept me lucide somehow but the pain started to take over and I would pass out soon.

Suddenly, I heard blaster shot again but that time they wasn't directed toward me. I looked up and I saw a third silhouette in the alley. And a blue light. The pain covered almost any other feeling but I knew somehow that silhouette was there to help me. Maybe I was becoming insane with the pain but I had nothing too loose in my situation. it couldn't be worse than being captured by the Empire... Right?

As I was trying to stay conscious, I saw one of the clone flying over my head and crashing hard against the brick wall. I stared at his unconscious form, stunned. Did this trooper just flying, like really flying, without any logical reason? It was like an invisible force pushed him violently...

A new surge of pain brought me back to reality and I clenched my teeth. Luminous points started appearing before my eyes and I made a great deal of effort to stay awake. I heard two others blaster shots, a scream of pain and... Nothing. The alley was silent, I could only hear my difficult breathing, the distant noises of the city and... Foodsteps. They were heading toward me. A wave of fear submerged me but I couldn't move. My legs refused to obeid me, my knee was nothing else but pain and my great loss of blood made me weak. I prayed the Force and hoped this person didn't mean to do me harm...

Soon, a figure appeared before my eyes and leaned to me. My vision was blury and it was difficult to properly see the face of that figure. The blue light was still there but I didn't know where it came from and it disappeared quickly. The person kneeled beside me and I stared at him, as he was a man, unable to look away.

That was when I met his eyes. Two piercing but preoccupied blue eyes. I'd never seen a gaze so blue... Anything so blue... That was like I'd jumped in a clear ocean which cleaned all the pain, all the blood... My mind was starting to fade and I couldn't do anything but staring back at those blue eyes... I felt like I'd been swallowed by a pure ocean... A lake, like those in the Lake Country on Naboo... and the fear disappeared. I didn't know why, I was looking at those blue eyes which belonged to someone who could have killed me. But unconciously, I trusted those blue eyes as such purity couldn't have done me wrong...

The man was talking to me, certainly asking me if I was injured or if he could do something for me. But I was unable to answer. My brain refused to work properly, the pain hazed my thoughts. A new spasm crossed my body and I could no longer reprime a cry. The man was closer now, leant on my injuries. He delicately took my hand and put it away to see the wound on my abdomen. Smelling the blood, I suddenly felt nauseous and my head spinned. All my strength vanished and everything turned dark.

I didn't feel anything anymore...


	3. Shield you from the world

_Hello everyone,_

_ Blerg, another two months without publishing... I'm so slow that I'm pissed off with myself for it. I'm really sorry, I have no excuse except real life's going crazy but I think it's the same for all of us in the end. I'm really ashamed of being so slow and I'd like to publish faster but in the same time I don't want to post you a hardly finished chapter then I also take time to make them as good as possible. Sorry again._

_ I want to thank you for your adorable reviews, they mean a lot for me, more than I could say. Thanks to Ambre (merci beaucoup je suis vraiment contente que tu aimes cette fiction et merci pour tes compliments, j'espère que la suite sera à la hauteur de tes espérances!), Jokomambe (ça veut dire que la scène d'action était bien écrite alors? Parce que ce n'est définitivement pas ma spécialité... merci pour ta review, voilà la suite), JACarter, angie (thank you very much for your kind words they mean a lot you know :) here's the next chapter and you'll know more about Padmé's condition, thanks again), Vero Diaz, Just a guest (Wow, thank you for your review! Action and suspense are not really my cup of tea usually but I love reading some then I tried to write some as well. I'm glad you like it and that my english is not a total mess. Here's the next chapter and Anakin Padmé talking.)._

_Well, about this chapter, it's another Anakin's point of view. I'm not sure I'll keep alternating the point of views, it's like that for the moment but strangely I feel more confortable to write from Anakin point of view... Wait and see. Enough rambling I suppose, I let you read and let me know what you think!_

_ Enjoy!_

oxoOoxo

Running Away

oxoOoxo

Chapter 3 - "Shield you from the world"

{Anakin}

I got out of the fresher , a pack of bacta patches in one hand, a towel in the other and I headed to the living room. Given that my flat was more than small, the living room was also the kitchen and was separated from my bedroom only by a very thin wall. The only good thing about that place was is lowcost rent and it was located on the highest floor of the building. It was not as high as buildings on Coruscant but I could see the sunset by the window of the main room and I watched it quite often.

It was an habit I kept from my youth at the Temple, I loved taking one of the turbolifts and going up to reach one of the meditation chambers up there. I didn't meditate that much, to my master's annoyance but I enjoyed looking down at the city, loosing my eyes into the distance, beyond those immense building. I used to go there when I was upset, frustrated or any other feeling which requiered me to calm down. And considering my emotional instability, it happened many times.

I went back to the present and finally reached the sofa of the living room. I dropped the bacta patches and the towel on the floor and looked down at the still unconscious form that lie down there. Her face was pale due to the quantity of blood she had lost. Her eyes were tight shut but I remembered their dark colour when they had met mine back in that dark alley.

For one second, I let myself recall what happened there. I remembered standing in the entrance of that cul-de-sac, speechless. Then one of the imperials spoke and his words brought me back to reality.

"Amidala, we know you are here. You must be tired of running, surrender and we will be indulgent."

Tired of running? Surrender? Be indulgent? My brain tried to understand what those words implied... The person they were pursuing was a fugitive of some sort. And I was about to rescue a fugitive? Force knew what he or she could have done. He or she could be the worst scum of the Galaxy... No, it couldn't be. If the Force expressed me to save that person, he or she couldn't be bad.

At that moment, I realised what was going on before my eyes, then I quickly recovered and my Jedi reflexes took over. I analysed the situation, the four imperial troopers, two of them lying lifeless on the floor. The two others were still shooting with their blasters toward the end of the alley. Suddenly, one of their shots reached a container that exploded, hurling a figure to the ground. It was a young woman and when I saw her I knew she was the one the Force wanted me to protect.

Then that what I did. Two clones were no match for me, even I hadn't fought in a long time, that was something incrusted in my DNA, three years on the frontline during the Clone Wars were responsible for it. I pulled my lightsaber out of under my cloak and for a microsecond I savoured the contact of my hand with the cool metal of the hilt. But I pull myself together and engaged into the fight.

I realised I hadn't been quick enough when I saw two blaster shots reaching the young woman, one in the chest, the other in the knee. She fell on the ground and the Force sent me a new signal of emergency. I took the first trooper by surprise cutting down the one of his arms holding is blaster and with a Force push I sent him flying against the wall. I could feel his skull breaking with the impact and his Force signaturre vanishing instantly. The second trooper was ready to defend himself and shot several times in my direction. I raised my lightsaber and deflected them all in a instinctive gesture and even managed to send one of them back to where it came from, hitting the clone in the chest. I moved fast and disarmed him. I came close to him and sighed when I saw he was also dead.

Silence fell around me and I took a long breath to recover. A new call from the Force reminded me of the young woman and I headed toward her, my lightsaber still on. I trusted the Force but all those years on the run made me a bit paranoid.

When I realised she couldn't flee or fight back, I switched off my lightsaber and leaned to her. She was in pain, that was undeniable, jaws tightened, anarchic breathing and her Force signature was slowly but surely fading away. I saw one of her hands was pressuring her abdomen, where the trooper shot at her. It was covered with blood.

I reacted instantly and pulled her hand aside to see her injury.

"How are you feeling?" I asked even i knew that was kind of stupid. Not well at all would certainly be her response.

But she didn't answer. She was staring at me but didn't say anything. I looked up at her and my eyes met hers. Two dark orbes were looking back at me, full of pain and fear and what I saw in those eyes made my stomach twist. I knew instantly that she was no dangerous. She may have been a fugitive but i was also one, hunted down by the Empire because of what I was... A Jedi Knight. even it no longer mean anything.

In that moment I saw weariness, solitude, fear and resignation. The lump in my throat tightened. All the things I saw in her eyes were the perfect reflexion of what I had been feeling for so long. Since the rise of the Empire. Since Order 66 and the cold-blood murder of my fellow Jedi. Of my brothers and sisters. A wave of homesickness and despair threatened to overcome me but I resisted the urge of let myself go to it. I couldn't look away from those brown eyes in which I could see my own demons.

At that very moment, in that dark alley, our two souls recognized each other.

I pulled myself together again and I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my gut and tear off a piece of the young woman's cloak to make pressure on the wound. But that was that moment I saw her loosing consciousness. A rush of panic ran in my veins but I released it into the Force, I had to stay calm if I wanted to save her.

I gently pulled the young woman out of her cloak with the Force and used it to make a temporary bandage around her abdomen. Then, I removed my own cloak and put it around her unconscious form. I scanned my surrounding to check any imperial presence but the Force was quiet once again, danger no longer threatened us.

I placed my hands on the young woman's temples and I reached into the Force and focused on her presence. I managed to reach her mind but avoided to invade it. She was defenseless and I could have taken advantage of that situation to learn her story but I had neither the time nor the will to do it. I just brushed it enough to put her in a healing transe and sending her waves of healing Force. I knew it was risky but it was the only thing I could think about. Once it was done, I took her little body into my arms and rushed to my place as fast as possible.

And here I was, sat on the floor of my appartment, looking at this woman I just saved. I still didn't know why the Force told me to do it. Were our destinies linked? Did we have something to accomplish together? Or was she the cure to my endless solitude? She looked like an angel after all...

I shook my head to forget these thoughts. I sounded like a pitiful romantic boy, that was ridiculous. But I still had a strange feeling about this. I felt a strong will to protect her, like I was meant to do it. I guessed she had been on the run, far from her family and friends for a long time. I saw her suffering, her longing for home in her eyes. She had suffered as much as I had and for a reason I couldn't understand, I didn't want to let her suffer again. I just wanted to keep her with me and never let her go. Shield her from the world, from this terrible Galaxy.

Why me? I didn't understand. It went farther than my duty as a Jedi to protect people. There was obviously a reason for our meeting. As Master Qui-Gon used to say, nothing happens without reason. And Master Yoda would add "Answer in time, you will get, young Skywalker."

I smiled at that idea. Back at the Temple, I had been greatly frustrated with all those criffing cryptic sentences our masters used to give us as answers to our questions. It seemed they had one cryptic response for every situation and that was so annoying! But now, as an adult and a knight, I could see the truth of those words and I liked to recall them when I felt lost. i was sure if I had one of the masters giving me such an answer right now, I would be pissed but that was reassuring to remember such details of my past.

I focused again on the reality and looked around me. My living room was a mess, tubes of bacta, bandages, the content of a first aid kit and the young woman's cloak were scattered on the floor. I had tried to take care of her injuries as much as I could but I was far of being a healer. The healing transe had been risky enough. I hadn't done it for years and putting someone else in such a state was not recommanded but that was the most effective thing I had in mind. I couldn't bring her to a medical center, there was a risk the imperials had enough time to ask for reinforcement, in this case they must being checking such places.

However, I had to found a healer quickly and I knew whom I would ask. I didn't know any doctor myself but I knew someone I could trust to give me a name. I would wait for my guest to wake up though...

Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind and I glanced at the chrono on my wrist. it was already four o'clock in the morning! I usually got up around five to get ready and take the transports to go to work... I couldn't let the young woman alone. I had to call Alrick and pretend I was sick, a very contagious flu or a crappy little virus like that. But she couldn't stay alone here. I knew my boss would be really pissed with me and I couldn't miss more than one day of work but that was still something.

I decided to wait for calling Alrick then i started tidying up the mess around me. I put the bacta and the bandages back in the first aid kit box, throwed the used ones to the garbage and eventually grasped the young woman's cloak. I stared at it for a long time and finally decided to have a look in her pockets. I knew it wasn't correct but hey, I had rescued her and she was staying on my sofa... I could at least know who she was!

I emptied out the content of the cloak's pockets and dropped it on the floor. There wasn't much inside: identity papers, few credits and a blaster, a more little model than the one she had used against the imperials before I arrived. I examined it quickly, it was a rather efficient weapon, she must have recieved some sort of self-defense training to use it.

Then, I focused on her identity papers. She was from Corellia and the name on the papers was Ami Elley. I didn't need the Force to tell me these informations were false, like my identity under the name of Akin Brayden. The false ID looked truthful, the person who had provided them surely knew his job. I had several other false identity papers myself, hidden in a safe place in my appartment with my Jedi clothes, what to build at least two or three lightsabers and a couple of other things, just in case. This box contained my most treasured possessions, the rest was futile.

I kept examining the young woman's papers. Ami Elley. This name was Correllian for sure and I should call her by it until I learnt her real name... Well if she would trust me enough to reveal it, that i hoped.

Something popped up to my mind at that instant. I remembered what one of the trooper said when I entered the alley in which I found... Ami. Amidala... He had called her Amidala. Why did this name sound familiar? Maybe it was a widespread name... No, it definitely rang a bell but I was unable to recall where or when I heard that name... Was it a name in a history class back at the time I was a padawan? Hard to say. Then I put this name in the back of my head and decided to meditate on it later.

Meditating... I thought about it for a moment and sighed. I didn't really like meditation, just sitting there motionless made me feel uneasy. I was a man of action for sure and most of the time I prefered go to the hangar at the Temple to fix thing instead of meditating in my quarters. For those past three years, though, I had been meditating more than before. Maybe because I already fixed things when I was at work so mecanics wasn't an escape anymore. And also because it was the only opportunity for me to immerge myself into the Force. This energy had been guiding me since my arrival at the Jedi Temple, twenty years ago and I couldn't imagine my life without it. With the Jedi Purges, it was no longer possible to use the Force or we must be really careful. We had to hide from the Emperor and his inquisitors. But cutting myself from the Force completely? No way.

I decided to meditate then. I still had time before calling Alrick and play my role as a very sick man and Ami was still sleeping. I put her out of the healing transe a couple of minutes ago and she was now resting.

.

02

I sat crosslegged on the floor, closed my eyes and breathed out slowly before immerging into the Force. Suddenly, I felt a weight leaving my shoulders and I renforced my mental shields before letting myself go to the flow of the Force. It was still clouded with the Dark Side, the black aura of the Sith polluted the Galaxy... But here, in the Outer Rim, it was more bearable than on Coruscant where the presence of the Emperor was intoxicating, in the worst way possible.

For long minutes I let my mind wandering in the Force, thinking about nothing in particular. I tried to recall where I heard the name Amidala but it seemed The Force didn't want me to remember... Not yet at least. My mind went from a thought to another, from the memories of my past as a Jedi Knight to my present life on Gerrenthum.

I didn't know how long I remained in my meditation but I was suddenly kicked out of the Force when I heard my comlink bipped. I quickly glanced at my chrono to realise it was already seven o'clock...

"Sith!" I grumbled. I didn't have any doubt about the identity of the person who was calling me. Alrick, for sure. I was late and a little bird told me my boss was more than pissed off.

I called my comlink to me with the Force and hung out, heading to my room to not disturb Ami's sleep... Well if that wasn't already the case with all the noise I made and the incessant bipping of that criffing comlink.

"Hello." I said with a hoarse voice , remembering I had to feign to be sick.

"Criff, Brayden, where are you?" yelled my boss through the comlink.

I winced inwardly. Stang, he wasn't happy at all. But I had to keep going with my so-called scikness. "Urgh... I think I caught a virus."

"A virus? What the heck are you talking about?"

I grimaced but not inwardly this time. Hearing him yelling gave me a headache and with the sleepless night I just had, it wasn't really hard to pretend I was sick. "My head hurts like hell and I spent the night with my head in the toilet pan." I finally replied.

I had to hold back a smirk when I saw Alrick's disgusted face. I knew my description wasn't glamourous at all but hey, maybe if I gave him the squalid details, I would sound more convincing.

"You put me in a very difficult situation you know that? But keep your crappy virus for yourself. I give you the day off but tomorrow I want to see you at the workshop on time, understood?"

"Understood." I nodded.

"See you tomorrow then." and he hung out.

I sighed of relief and ran a hand through my hair. I made it, I had the day off. Now I should go and see if I hadn't awaken my guest...

When I went in the living room, I checked her Force presence quickly to see she was more conscious than before. I looked down the sofa and saw her eyes were now open. She was looking around, scanning her environment, surely wondering where she was. She must be disoriented so I stepped forward very carefully.

"Hello." I said with a embarassed smile. Why was I embarassed by the way? I wasn't the shy boy type usually.

She looked up at me and once more her eyes met mine. She stared at me for some very long seconds before snapping out of her revery. She looked around again and she sat up suddenly, alert. She grimaced and I guessed it was because of the pain in her abdomen. The healing transe helped her wound to close but the pain was still there.

I reached out to her and helped her to lay down on the sofa again. "Hey, take it easy, there's still a possibility for your wound to open up."

She was again looking at me but I was impossible for me to read her through her eyes. I still didn't want to invade her mind and, even I would know if she lied to me when I would ask er questions, I didn't want to be intrusive.

"Where... Where am I?" she finally asked with a hoarse voice.

"You're still on Gerrenthum." I explained. "What do you remember?"

She closed her eyes for a moment before answering. "The alley... And the Imperials... Blaster shots and... pain." She opened up her eyes and looked at me once more. "Where are the imperials?"

"Dead." I replied.

"Renforcements?"

"None that I am aware of."

She sighed and lie down her head on the pillot, apparently relieved. I examined her weary face for a moment. She was indeniably beautiful but exhaustion was clearly visible on her features. I wondered where she came from, who she was, how long she had been on the run and why she was hunted down by the Empire... All these questions were crossing my mind but I kept them for myself... Until then.

I snapped out of my revery when I heard her voice again.

"I can't stay here." she eventually said. "I don't want to put your life at risk more than I already have."

She tried to sit up but pain stopped her.

"You're not going anywhere." I said sternly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You're in no condition to leave. You're injuries are serious and I have to call a healer to come and check you."

"But the Empire... You're in danger if I stay here." she protested stubbornly.

"Oh, don't worry for me, I don't need you to have the eye of the Empire on me."

I stopped and frowned. 'Well done, Skywalker! Why don't you tell her your name and why you're hiding from the Empire while you're at it?'

"So you're staying here." I concluded, trying to divert her attention.

But she was still staring at me and I realised my words didn't fall in deaf ears. Sith, I really had to learn to shut up.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"What about you?" I retorted defensively.

"I'm Ami Elley." she replied.

"I know it's a false identity."

"Well, tell me your name and I might tell mine." "I was the first to ask after all." she stated.

"And I was the one to rescue you." I reminded her.

She raised an eyebrow and we looked in each other eyes for awhile, refusing to back down. But finally, the defi in her eyes was replaced by a glint of mischievousness and she chuckled. I followed her, amused by her reaction. It had been a long time since I last laughed like this.

Our eyes met once more and I wondered for a second if they were not attracted or something. I gently brushed her mind, even she couldn't feel me. I knew she wasn't Force sensitive but she was bright and genuine, I felt no malice, no darkness in her. I heard the Force whispering I could trust her. My rational self wanted to be more prudent, it couldn't trust anyone in this Galaxy. However, I trusted the Force more than anything else. It never failed me, even when Order 66 had been given and my clones turned against me, the Force saved my life.

Then if the Force told me to trust this onknown beautiful woman... Could I really dismiss it? I knew a part of me would always be on guard but I could let myself go... Just for this time.

"My name is Anakin." I finally said. I chose to no tell her my full name, my rational self seemed to keep a bit of control in the end.

She smiled at me and I saw she hesitated an instant. I could see her inner struggle in her eyes. She was hesitant to confide in me but I could understand, I just did the same.

"Thank you Anakin... For saving my life."

"Any time, milady." I said and bowed exageratedely.

She smiled again and I thought that smile was one of the most beautiful things I had seen in a long time. It was like her face was no longer used to smile but it was still beautiful, certainly because it was now rare. I looked away, I didn't want her to think I was a kind of stalker, staring at her like I did. Force, I must look ridiculous just looking at her like a stupid guy...

"Padmé." she eventually say. I looked up and she gave me a shy smile. "My name is Padmé."


	4. We got open arms for broken hearts

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter to this story. It is still a quiet one and I thought it was the good moment to start talking about the past. The timeline of this story is quite different from the canon then I think a couple of flashbacks will be needed, here's the first of them and the first impression of Padmé. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and I'm again sorry for my slow updates.

I wanna thank everyone for reviewing this story, you rock, guys: James, Padme, Guest, Jaspreet (wow, your compliments are just... wow. Here's the new update and thank you again!), Ambre (merci encore pour ta fidélité et j'espère que ce chapitre te plaira! oui pas facile d'écrire en anglais mais j'adore écrire cette histoire et même si ça prend du temps, je ne lâcherai pas! ;-), Jokomambe (merci aussi pour ta fidélité et ton enthousiasme, tes reviews m'encouragent à chaque fois et je suis heureuse que le rythme que j'ai choisi pour cette histoire ne te semble pas trop long. je me dis que puisque c'est un univers différent, il faut que je prenne mon temps pour développer les différences! Voici un nouveau chapitre, j'espère qu'il te plaira! Et ne t'inquiète pas pour les longues reviews, j'adore ^^) QueenYoda (ah, thanks for your review! About Obi-Wan... Well, i promise we'll see him in the future and before in some flashbacks, I don't forget him I swear ^^)

You might have noticed that the titles of the chapters came from song lyrics. This one was inspired by the band Elbow and their songs "Open Arms."

Thank you again to all of you.

oxoOoxo

Chapter 4 - We Got Open Arms For Broken Hearts

{ Padmé }

_ I closed my eyes and savoured the warm and sweet sensation of the wind on my face. I took a long breath and the delicate smell of flowers in the garden down the balcony tickled my senses. The air was pure, deprived of all pollution and I felt this familiar sensation of renewal, the same feeling I had everytime I came on my home planet. Spring mornings on Naboo, especially in the lake country, were some of the best memories I had of my childhood._

_ I eventually opened my eyes again and looked at the show in front of me. If the fresh air and the sweet smell of flowers were things I enjoyed quite a lot, the landscape around me was also wonderful. The sky above my head was clear blue as it had been for the past few days and the horizon over the mountains was covered of fleecy clouds. The rising sun still managed to filter through this veil and its golden light reflected on the surface of the lake in front of me. It was this time of day when morning tried to break the tight coat of the night and always wan. The mist just above the water prooved that the night was no far behind, though. The fog stretched out its long translucent arms over the lake that the dancing rays of the sun interlaced in a beautiful play of light. Nature was gorgeous this morning and there I was, standing on the balcony overlooking the gardens, admiring its beauty._

_ For the past week, I had been standing there every morning, whilst everybody was still asleep. I had always loved the first minutes of the day, when i woke up early and everything around me was still quiet. it was more difficult when I lived on Coruscant because of the endless trafic in the sky of the Capital. But even there, I used to spent some time in the veranda of my appartment at 500 Republica and I watched the sun rising over the buildings. The light reflected on their transparisteel walls and even that view was different from the natural settings of Naboo, it had its own charm. For those few minutes of calm, I forgot all my problems and concerns, all the issues debated at the Senate everyday, the wars, the growing powers of the Chancellor and I felt at peace._

_ This morning was different, though. I woke up feeling heavy hearted as I knew that something bad was on its way. Something which we'd got coming to us for a lon time. I didn't like this feeling but it was surely due to the fact that it was my last day on Naboo before going back to Coruscant. I felt kind of the same everytime I had to leave my family behind._

_ I had always been divided between them and my duty as the representative of Naboo. When I was queen, things were different. I was younger, less attached to my family and probably more naive, as a cynical part of me always whispered in my ears. But today I didn't feel as dedicated to my duty as I used to be. I obviously loved my people and my home planet with every fiber of my being and I had never regretted accepting Queen Jamillia's request to represent Naboo in the Senate. Since I was eleven and I entered the Legislative Youth Program, I knew politics was what I wanted to do. My parents had always instilled great values in my sister and I, such as self-sacrifice and dedication to the causes we defended, whatever they were. Sola was the perfect result of this, she was completely dedicated to her family and she would do anything for them._

_ I felt the same when I was elected Queen of Naboo. I swore I would serve my people at any cost and I actually did. I would never have thought that it would come so soon, though. Only a few weeks after my election, the Trade Federation invaded our planet and I had to watch my people suffering and being killed. We would have lost this fight if it wasn't for our alliance with the Gungan, the two Jedi sent by the Republic to help us and the few pilots of our military defense, among which there was the young prodigy who destroyed the Droids Control Station. That was when I lost the first bit of my innocence and it had been a rather hard lesson for the young-maybe too young-girl I was. _

_ Ten years later, my dedication and my love for democracy were still there but the Clone Wars had undeniably dulled them. Everyday, our struggle to restaure peace in the Galaxy failed again and again and senators were loosing hope, one after another and gave more powers to the Chancellor in result. I no longer trusted him blindly and I wondered if he wasn't favouring his own power above the well being of the Republic. If he kept going, we would have a dictatorship very soon and this idea scared me._

_"Padmé?" I was startled back to reality when I heard a female voice calling my name._

_ I turned my head to see Sola coming toward me, a steaming cup of caf in her hands. She held it out to me and I took a sip of the hot brevage._

_ "Beautiful morning, eh?" she asked, leaning on the rail of the balcony._

_ "Yes, it is." I nodded, also turning back to the view._

_ "Did you sleep well?"_

_ "I did. The calm of this place is really soothing. Quite different from the endless buzzing of Coruscant actually."_

_ "It's even different from Theed." Sola smiled. "But you look preoccupied, sis. Something's bothering you."_

_ It wasn't a question. Sola knew me by heart and I was an open book for her. She was my sister after all and maybe the person I trusted the most in my life. I knew she had never really understood why I became the Senator of Naboo in the first place. She supported me of course, especially when I was Queen, proud to say she was the elder sister of Queen Amidala. She was still proud of what I accomplished for the Republic today but the war also changed her point of view. I sometimes left for diplomaticc missions on planets controled by the Separatists and my sister was just afraid of loosing me. It was the same for my parents and I understood their worries. But it was my duty and even the envy of settling down and having my own family sometimes crossed my mind, I couldn't give up the fight I engaged myself into. I was needed in the Senate, especially since I was at the head of the loyalist group that other senators and I created before Palpatine's growing power. And even I retired from politics, I didn't think I would be able to stay at home and do nothing but stalking the Holonet to know what was happening in the Galaxy._

_ Sola and I had always been close. I confided in her everytime I needed and she did the same. Despite our different ways of life, we accepted each other's choice. I admired my sister in her role of wife and mother and I sometimes wished I could find a man like Darred to love and protect me. i was an independent person but their happiness was too obvious to be denied._

_ "I just don't want to leave." I eventually answered. "I'm still certain that keep fighting in the Senate is the best thing to do but when I see that our tentatives to restaure peace always fail... it is sometimes hard to keep hope. i wish this war could be over."_

_ "I understand." Sola said. "I saw the damages it caused only on Naboo and to other planets on the Holonet."_

_ "And I think we don't know all the things which happened during those fights." i added. "The Holonet can't be on every planet affected by the war. There must be things we don't even think of."_

_ "As you say, we can't be on every planet... You can't save everyone Padmé." she told me in a conforting voice._

_ "I know, that's why my presence in the Senate is essential. But... But I have the feeling that something else is coming."_

_ "Something else?"_

_ "I don't know... I'm scared of the Chancellor's growing powers. I know I was the one who submited the vote of no-confidence which allowed him to be elected but... He's been in office for too long."_

_ "War is a special context which requires special measures." Sola noticed. "I'm sure as soon as the fight will end, Palpatine will give up his emergency powers and he may even help to rebuild the Republic."_

_ "i hope you are right." I smiled at her._

_ "I'm always right, am I not?" she asked, raising an eyebrow._

_ I laughed at her tentative to light up the mood and she smiled back at me. Our conversation stopped there, interrupted by children voices calling "Mum, mum!" meaning that Ryoo and Pooja were up and ready to have breakfast. Hearing my nieces's laughter lit up my heart and I exchanged a last smile with my sister before she entered the house. I glanced a last time at the lake, put my worries about galactic politics aside and came inside to meet my family for breakfast. I still had one day to spend with them and I would enjoy it as much as I could._

I woke up with a start, wondering for an instant where I was. My consciousness and my memories went back and I recognized the place around me. I was in Anakin's appartment on Gerrenthum.

I instinctively looked up at the window of the room and I saw the moon in the sky where the first light of dawn already appeared. Despite the permanant urban light of the city, it was possible to see it when the sky was clear; The moon had always been the companion of my sleepless nights and it was reassuring to see it. Before I arrived on Gerrenthum, I spent six weeks in Cloud City on Bespin where the sky couldn't be seen. At least, I had the moonlight here.

It was my third night at Anakin's. I didn't have any memories of the first of them, when he rescued me in that dark alley. I vaguely remembered the attack of the Stormtroopers but the shots which touched me in the knee and in the abdomen caused too much pain for precise memories. One thing was there, though, and I didn't know what to think of it. I remembered Anakin leaning on me, looking for any injuries. I remembered meeting his blue eyes and thinking I had never seen eyes so blue. But after that, everything was dark.

I woke up the morning after, feeling numb and bruised. My wounds stopped bleeding hours before but the pain was still there. I wondered how Anakin managed to stop the bleeding but he barely answered me when I asked him, only saying he had basic healing knowledges. I was sure that he was hiding something but I was too greatful to push further. I owed him my life and that was the most important.

Since then, I had remained in his appartment, to weak to make more than a few steps around the room and go to the fresher to take a shower. The first day, Anakin stayed with me, looking after me as if I was a fragile creature. And it was the truth. I had lost a great quantity of blood and I was still badly injured. I spent the last two days lying on Anakin's bed, he insisted to take the sofa. I tried to protest but it seemed like I found someone as stubborn as I was and I finally gave up. During the day, Anakin was at work and I slept most of the time. At the beginning, he let some datapads for me on the side table and I read trhough them on the second day to discover most of them were books about mecanics and tales of races on planets such as Malastar and Tatooine. Not really my cup of tea, I had to say.

But yesterday , Anakin came back with a new datapad. He explained me he went to a bookshop after work and he downloaded a lot of stories on it to keep me occupied. He didn't know what he loved so he chose a great variety of story from detective novels to history books and love stories. I had been surprised by this but really happy in the end. Such little details could be unsignificant for a lot of people but they meant the world to me. Nobody had taken care of me like Anakin did since I started running away and it was good to relie on someone even it was temporary.

I felt immensly greatful to Anakin and i still wondered how I would ever pay him back for everything he'd done and still did. It was like he was meant to protect people. Not in a submissive way. I had seen his stubborness and his strong personnality already but he was attentive to his surrounding in an almost instinctive way. He seemed to be able to anticipate all my needs but he wasn't overprotective either. I wasn't really a talkative person and even Anakin did everything to be trusted, I couldn't let myself go too easily. I was waiting for a full recovery and then I would leave. I couldn't stay here, Anakin's life was already in danger and there was still a chance that the stormtroopers had the time to communicate my presence on this planet. Anakin assured me he didn't see anything unusual or squads of clones looking for a fugitive but I couldn't let my attention wander.

I sighed and lie down back on the bed. I was still tired but a glance at the wall chrono indicated that it was already half past five in the morning. In the adjacent room I could hear Anakin moving things in the kitchen and the characteristic smell of caf reached me. I decided to join him for breakfast, he would leave for work soon and I'll be alone for the rest of the day. Sleep could wait for another hour.

When I entered the living area, I blinked to adapt to the light. I saw Anakin sat at the counter of the kitchen, a cup of caf in his hands. he was reading something on a datapad but as soon as I entered the room he switched it off. i didn't know if it was because he didn't want me to see it or just because he wanted to greet me properly.

"Good morning." I finally say.

"Hello." he replied. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thank you. What about you?"

"Like a rock." he smiled. "Alrick made me work like a slave yesterday to catch up the so-called delay he got due to my absence the day before yesterday."

"I'm sorry." I said. "You had to miss work because of me and..."

"Don't worry." he interrupted me. "It wasn't your fault and Alrick has the great tendancy to act like a slave owner anyway."

"You're a mechanic, aren't you?" I asked, accepting the cup he held it out to me. We didn't really have the opportunity to talk before and i didn't know why but I was in a good mood that morning.

"Indeed." Anakin replied. "I've always loved fixing stuff when I was a kid and my previous ... boss, used to say that I could work wonders."

"And modesty is one of your best qualities." I joked.

"I really work wonders!" he certified. "I even built a protocole droid to help my mother when I was nine. Well, Threepio can be such a pain sometimes but it is very good anyway."

"So, you've always been a mechanic." I nodded.

I saw Anakin's smile stiffen and he stared at the distance for a while before answering. "Yeah, you can put it like that."

I noticed his hesitation but I didn't mention it. I remembered Anakin telling me he had already the eyes of the Empire on him and, even I acted like I hadn't noticed it, I still kept this fact in mind. He was probably a fugitive like me. I didn't think he had commited a violent crime or something as serious as I did and the Empire didn't really need a reason to condemn someone. He could have said something that didn't please someone influent in the Empire without thinking and the day after woke up with imperial Stormtroopers at his door.

"Oh I have good news for you." he finally said.

"Really?"

"Yes, I eventually found a healer I could trust enough to see your injuries." he smiled. "She's a friend of mine and you can trust her with your life... She... Well, she doesn't worship the Empire if you know what I mean."

"I see. Well, that's indeed a good news. It's not that I don't have faith in your healing skills but..."

"No, you're right." he laughed. "I have only basic skills and Niala will be more qualified than me to see if your injuries require further care. She will come tonight after work."

"That's perfect." I nodded. "Thank you again... For everything you do for me. I know I'm repeating myself but you saved my life like... You give without any thought of reward. It's rare to find someone like you"

I spoke my thoughts out loud and, even it probably sounded naive, that was the least I owed him.

He smiled again and for a second, our eyes met. I shivered trying to not loose myself in the blue of his and it was him who finally broke the contact. "It is one of the things Qui-Gon used to say of me." He must have seen my surprised look because he added. "he was a kind of father to me, if you want. I met him when I was five years old and we had always been close."

"He must have loved you a lot to praise you like this."

"He did. And it was mutual."

I could see how fondly he talked of this Qui-Gon and it reminded me of when i talked of my father. In Anakin's voice and behaviour, I could see the same longing for home and the same melancoly for the past that flowed in my veins since the last time I left Naboo. I remembered the dream I had just before waking up this morning. it was a memory of my last visit at home, before the rise of the Empire and before I was found guilty of treason. I missed my family so much that thinking of it hurt me everytime. It was too risky for me to go and visit them but sometimes, I was about to give in before i remembered of their safety.

We finished our cafs in silence and Anakin left soon after. i still felt tired and I decided to go back to bed. I slept for another couple of hours and I woke up again, thirsty and hungry. I headed to the kitchen to get something to eat. Anakin had explained me where things were and I managed to cook something good enough to be ingested. i spend the rest of the day in the bed, reading stories that Anakin brought me the evening before.

i was trying to make dinner when the door opened and Anakin, followed by another person, entered the appartment. I wip my hands and headed toward the entrance to greet them. As soon as Anakin saw me, he narrowed his eyes and asked. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"Cooking." I answered like it was the most logic thing in the Galaxy.

"And your injuries?"

I raised my eyes to heaven and replied. "I have been in bed all daylon, as I was feeling better i decided to cook for dinner."

"You have to be careful." he reminded me.

"Hey, Mummy-wampa, would you be kind enough to introduce me to your friend if you want me to look at her injuries?" asked a female voice behind Anakin.

That was when I noticed her. She was a togruta with orange skin and blue eyes and looked sympathetic. She was smiling at me encouragingly and she finally held her hand to me.

"As Akin is not disposed to introduce us properly... I am Niala, nice to meet you."

"Padmé." I replied, shaking her hand. "Thanks for... Helping me."

"No problem, it is my job after all." Niala answered jokingly. "Shall we start?"

"You can take my room." Anakin indicated. "I'll make some tea."

"Fine." Niala said.

We went to Anakin's room and Niala started to examine my injuries. She put a box out of her bag and started treating the wounds. She replaced the bacta patches Anakin and I put on them on the last days and she checked my blood for infections.

When we went out of the room, fifteen minutes later, a delicious smell of tea floated in the air. Anakin sat crosslegged on the floor in front of the sofa and opened his eyes when he heard us.

"So?" he asked to Niala, inviting us to sit in the sofa.

"She's fine." Niala answered while Anakin was pouring three cups of tea. "Her injuries were certainly serious but the first care you performed have been remarquably efficient. Are you sure you don't have a degree in medecine or something?"

"I swear I don't." Anakin confirmed. "It's just that... I was forced to learn basic stuff before, that's all."

Niala and I exchanged a look, both not convinced by his answer. That was probably another part of his past he didn't want to talk about. I took a sip of my tea and Niala explained that I was still weak but the healing process was working well. I should stay in bed for another week and I would be fine afterwards. One week... it wasn't that bad.

We talked for another couple of minutes, Niala and Anakin doing the most of the conversation. They exchanged news about some of their friends and the healer left soon after. Anakin and I had supper in an almost complete silence and, as I cooked, he insisted to take care of the dishes.

I was standing by the window when I saw his reflection in the glass. I was looking out at the city and Anakin joined me, staying still. We admired the view for long minutes before I spoke.

"There's something I was thinking of..." I started. He glanced at me and, seeing I had his attention I explained. "I was staying at a hostel before... Before the other night and I thought I should pick up the things I had there. It's not that much but there are a few things that could be really useful."

"I see... Do you remember where it is in the city?"

"Not far from where you found me. Twenty minutes away from the spacioport toward the North. The name was something like 'The Gerry's Hotel.'"

"I think I know where it is... Very near. And the Gerry's Hotel, seriously?"

Gerrenthum, Gerry... It's kind of logic. But "I didn't pick it for the originality of its name so..." I joked.

"I hope so because it's kinda crappy." Anakin laughed.

Our eyes met once more and this time, I didn't try to look away. i didn't know why but I found some confort in his eyes. Maybe that was because I'd been on the run for too long and I didn't have someone to take care of me like that... Maybe because Anakin was-after all- a very handsome man and I was in need of affection... But I felt safe and welcome around him. I knew I couldn't allow myself to become attached to him. I would leave soon enough and I would start fleeing again. But my heart told me otherwise.

I went back to reality when I felt Anakin putting a hand on my shoulder. He squeezed it and said. "I'm relieved that you're doing alright."

I stared back at him and smiled. My heart was pounding in my chest and I couldn't find anything to answer. Then, I put my hand on the top of his and we exchanged another long look.

We finally looked away and turned toward the window. I could still feel Anakin's touch on my hand and, even I knew it wasn't right, I decided to let go. I was tired of running, my heart and soul were bruised because of all those years on the run, all the sacrifices I made to defend the things I believed in. Right now, right here, I was no longer Senator Amidala at the origin of the Alliance to Restaure the Republic, hunted by the Empire. I was just Padmé, a broken heart who needed reconfort and who had a man holding out his arms, his hand to her.

And I would take this hand, for the time being.


	5. Hope for the Hopless

_ Hey everybody!_

_It's been another long time for this new chapter to come and I'm again really sorry. I'm blaming university again but graduating was crazy and time consuming and very cool in the end. This chapter is longer than usual so I hope you'll like it! It's a bit quiet like the previous ones but I really want to install Anakin's and Padmé relationship. If you're waiting for action, I promise it'll be coming soon.._

_ I want to tank you again for all your wonderful reviews. I know I'm a bad person 'cause I don't take the time to reply individually but know I read all of them, I love all of them and... you are wonderful. I send you a lot of love, sunshine, kitten and cupcakes. You make me keep going with this fiction and even an update is always long to come, and I'm sorry again, you rock mates. Shattered-Destiny00 asked if this story would become a kind of Bonnie and Clyde... I would love that but I'm not sure I'm good enough._

_ I stop with my rambling and let you read this new chapter._

The title comes from a song by A Fine Frenzy.

Enjoy!

oxoOoxo

Chapter 5 - "Hope for the hopeless"

{ Anakin }

The infinite horizon of skyscrapers had been the thing that most startled me when I first set foot on Coruscant ten years ago. Born on a desert planet where the highest construction was the spaceport of Mos Espa, those high rises of durasteel and the reflection of the sun on their transparasteel windows let me in an awe. I had the impression I couldn't see the end of them and it was even more true from my five years of age.

With the passing years, I had become accustomed to this vision. I sometimes found it marvelous, sometimes scary... And, as contradictory as it may sound, I found the vision of the buzzing Coruscant and its billions of inhabitants... Relaxing. When I stared at the city through one of the many windows at the Temple, I realised that my preoccupations and my frustrations were really nothing compared to the whole Galaxy. It was also reassuring that whatever happened, Coruscant had stood for centuries and would still be there for the many years to come. The immensity of the city, the billions of living beings down there dealing with their own daily business was a constant remember of the galaxy that we served and protected as jedi.

However, even this sight couldn't calm the turmoil of emotions that raged inside me at that very instant. I felt like I had lost all my bearings, like anything made no longer sense in my life. I was standing there, watching the population of Coruscant going on with its life while mine was falling apart.

I wasn't the first padawan in this situation. Our missions as Jedi were always dangerous, it wasn't the first loss for the Order and it wouldn't be the last either. Death was part of life and I should have been rejoicing for him for being one with the Force.

But I couldn't.

I couldn't bear the permanance of his absence, that he would never be here for me. I knew I was being selfish, I knew putting my own desires, my own needs before the Force was behaving in a very unlike Jedi manner and if Master yoda could have read my mind at that moment, he would have lost his legendary composure.

Jedi all around the Temple assured me of their condoleances. I wasn't the first orphaned padawan of the Order but the fact was still unusual enough to require a different treatment from my peers. I didn't blame them, acting around a person who just knew a great loss always felt awkward. They were just trying to help and confort me.

It was as their attentions and their words didn't reach me though. I felt numb with the sensation that the world kept turning without me. Grief menaced to overcome me at any time and I had to make a great deal of effort to release it in the Force as I have been taught to do. How many times did Qui-Gon repeat me "there is no emotion, there is peace?" It had been the most difficult thing to practice all along my training and this time didn't make exception.

It had been three days since he passed away and I still couldn't imagine keep going without him. Qui-Gon had been the one who saved me from a life of slavery on Tatooine. Of course, leaving my mother behind hadn't been easy but I knew she had done it for my sake and I would always admire her choice to put my desires before her own. Maybe that was what being a parent meant.

Since then Qui-Gon had been my mentor, my guiding light. I respected other members of the order, Master Yoda, Master Windu, Obi-Wan... But things had always been different with Qui-Gon. It was like he could see my needs, my difference from the other initiates. Those differences were barely noticeable today but Qui-Gon had been the rock upon which I based my life, the Jedi I looked up to and hoped to become.

What was left of me now he was gone? What would I become? I knew the Council was discussing to assign me another master. But I didn't want another master. I wanted Qui-Gon. I knew it was a childish behaviour. My master was definitely gone and he wouldn't come back because I wanted him to. I had to let go, I knew it perfectly.

But it was easier said than done.

I was startled out of my thoughts when I felt the presence of someone behind me. i was in one of the meditation chamber near the Room of One Thousand Fountains and I had been alone for the past hours. It seemed it was the end of my loneliness. I didn't need to turn around to know who was there. I could recognize this Force signature, it was Obi-Wan's. I had hardly seen him during the last three days and I wondered where he had been.

Obi-Wan was a part of my life as much as Qui-Gon. Not like a master or a mentor but more like... An older brother. At first, I thought he was jealous because I had taken his place as Qui-Gon's apprentice but Obi-Wan explained me one day that he wasn't jealous. First because jealousy wasn't a thing that Jedi usually knew and most of all because his time as Qui-Gon's padawan had come to an end anyway. It had been five years between the moment they had found me on Tatooine and the moment I became Qui-Gon's apprentice. Now, I knew this idea of jealousy was stupid but back when I was ten, it didn't sound that silly.

Since then, Obi-Wan and I had been friends. There was still a great friendship and a mutual respect between my master and him thus he had always been a part of our lives. We didn't see him quite often, though, as his missions as a knight took him away from the Temple most of the time. But when he was back on Coruscant, he came and visit Qui-Gon and I, inquiring on my progresses and dispatching a few advices of his own on the way.

I could feel Obi-Wan standing beside me and looking at the city over the transparasteel window. We staid like this for awhile before I turned my eyes toward him. His face looked tired and dark circles started to appear under his eyes. In apparence he was still the straight and dignified Jedi Knight I had always seen in him. But something in his stature, even more in his Force signature told me he was bearing his pain as best as he could.

Of course, Obi-Wan was hurting. Qui-Gon had been his mentor for more than fifteen years and was still one of his best friends. How could he not be affected by his loss? It was just that... it was hard for me to imagine Obi-Wan as affected as I saw him on that instant. He had always looked strong and quiet, the perfect image of what a Jedi should be. Seeing him on this instant was strange and a bit scary.

Or maybe I had been too buried in my own grief to notice the sorrow of others.

Obi-Wan finally look away from the window and gave me a pale smile. i tried to do the same but it looked more like a wince. Then, Obi-Wan spoke, putting the tight silence to an end.

"I talked with the Council." he stated.

"About... About my future?" I asked, my voice hoarse after three days without saying any words.

"Yes." Obi-Wan nodded. "I know it is hard for you to imagine the future but you have to carry on with your training."

"How can I carry on without Qui-Gon? He's been here for the ten past years, since I left Tatooine. When my mother was no longer in my life he has taken her place as a guide... Nobody can replace him."

"It is not what we ask you to do, Anakin." obi-Wan reminded me, remaining calm. "Qui-Gon has been your master for five years and no one is asking you to replace him. But life goes on and you still have so much to learn."

"You can't understand!" I snapped, frustrated by his calm demeanor. "You come here and expect me to accept a new master as nothing happened. But I can't, it's too much..."

"How can you tell I don't understand?" Obi-Wan retorted cooly. "Maybe Qui-Gon was your master but he has been mine as well! For fifteen years, I looked up at him like the best Jedi the Order counted in its ranks, the Jedi I wanted to become... He has taught me everything he knew, I am who I am today thanks to him. We were no longer master and padawan, it is true. But when I needed an advice or a word of confort, he has been here for me. i lost a friend Anakin. i lost my master as well So don't tell me that I don't understand what you are going through. Not to me."

The silence fell heavily on me as I realised what Obi-Wan's words implied. I had never seen him so emotional, so... vulnerable? It wasn't a word I would have associated to Obi-Wan Kenobi but it was the most appropriate at the moment. Obi-Wan just told me everything he was feeling, everything he was trying to keep inside because it was unlike him to express his inner emotions. But he had some as well and I couldn't deny them. I thought that because Qui-Gon was my master, I had to be the one to suffer the most. But it was ridiculous. Obi-Wan still cared greatly for Qui-Gon and, as he said, he had lost his master as much as I had lost mine.

"I'm sorry, Obi-Wan." I said, dropping my gaze on the floor. "I didn't realise you..."

"Don't worry, I understand." Obi-Wan assured me, putting a hand on my shoulder in a conforting gesture.

I looked up at him and saw the forgiveness in his eyes. I smiled awkwardly at him and he relaxed a bit. Suddenly, I realised I wasn't alone in all this mess. Obi-Wan was going through hard times as well and it was conforting to share my pain with someone else. I wasn't alone anymore.

"Did you get some proper sleep lately, you look awfully tired." Obi-Wan asked.

I winced at his question. Since the return of our last mission, I got almost any sleep at all. I spent my nights in the medical wing, the hangar to work on some pieces of junk in need of repair, even in the gardens... Anywhere but our quarters. I knew if I step in there, I would feel Qui-Gon's presence reverberating in the Force as if he was just off world for a solo mission as it happened sometimes and he would be coming back soon.

But he would never come back.

"Not really." I eventually answered, looking away from Obi-Wan.

"I see." he simply stated. "I... I came here to give you the name of your new master..."

I clenched my teeth knowing this moment was inevitable. But I couldn't blame Obi-Wan on being the messenger of the jedi Council. Then I released my emotions into the Force and turned to face Obi-Wan. With a shrug I invited him to continue.

"I am your new master." he finally informed me. "The Council wanted to assign you one of their masters but... I wanted to do it. For Qui-Gon but also for you. I knew accepting a new master would have been something difficult for you but... I want to lighten your pain as much as I can."

I remained speechless at his words. I was expecting Obi-Wan to tell me a name either I didn't know or one of the Council members's at last. But he to be my master... I didn't see it coming, for sure.

Obi-Wan, my master... I was having a hard time accepting Qui-Gon's death but maybe with Obi-Wan at his place it would become easier. We were experimenting the same grief and he was probably the closest person I had still as a family... Moreover, Obi-Wan Kenobi was a great Jedi Knight and it would be an honor for any of the padawans in the Temple to learn from him.

Then, in all this mess that was my pain, I saw hope in the future. I wouldn't be alone, in the end. Obi-Wan would be my master and I would do my best to honor his decision to take this responsibility.

So, I looked at him again and smiled and tried to show him how relieved and how greatful I was at this very instant.

"Thank you, I'm greatful and honored..." I hesitated one second, took a look at the sky above Coruscant as looking for an approval and when I got a warm sensation in the Force which felt strangely like Qui-Gon's presence I added. "master."

"What do you mean by, I have to sound like a Corellian?" Padmé asked me as I was changing clothes after a day at work.

"Your identity as Ami Elley is Corellian, right?"

"It is." she nodded.

"Then you must sound like a Correllian... With the accent, the swearing and stuff." I explained, grabbing my shoes under the couch. "Corellian are famous to be strong headed, well at least you have no problem with this part..."

"What do you mean!?"

"What, would you say you are a weak minded person?" I asked, refering to her stubborness. She glared at me and finally shrugged. "The last thing to look like a Corellian well... ya gotta speak like a Corellian ya know? 'Cuz, c'mon they've a kriffin' strong accent." I finished, imitating what I thought being a very good Corellian accent.

Padmé chuckled and looked up at me with mischievousness in her eyes. "No Corellian speaks like that! Unless you are a smuggler or a pirate."

"Well, you might be right." I confessed. "But at least, you have to know some Corellian insults."

"Such as?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Things like Guerfel', Skrag or Droyk have to come naturally... And even a little Halle metes chun, petchuck couldn't cause any arm except if your in front of a very muscular drunk guy looking for a fight."

"And what does all that mumbo-jumbo mean, actually?" padmé laughed.

"Hey, that's something a Corellian could have said, you're improving!" I congratulated her as we went out of my appartment.

It had been one week since I had found Padmé in the alley and she was getting better day by day. After niala's visit four days ago, a routine settled between the two of us. I went to work during the day while Padmé was resting and keeping herself occupied at home. Then I went back, we checked her injuries and changed her bandage if necessary then had dinner and spent a little time together in the living room, most of the time reading or talking before going to bed. It was quiet but Padmé couldn't really do anything without risking re-opening her wounds and... well my life on Gerrenthum was usually uneventful so it wasn't a big change for my routine.

Her presence changed a great deal in my life though. I couldn't identify exactly what it was yet but maybe just having someone around when i went home after a day of work felt good. Aside Tallan, Andra and Nyala I didn't get that many social interactions in my life and Padmé's presence was welcome.

It was also because she was a fugitive, like me. I didn't know why she was on the run and why the Empire wanted her captured. She didn't tell me anything about it and I didn't ask because it would mean I had to tell her why I was on the run in return and it wasn't something I wanted. It wasn't only a matter of trust but it was hard to know how she would react to my Force sensitivity. For the most part of the Galaxy, the Jedi were the traitors who tried to took over and in doing so, betrayed the Republic they had sworn to protect. I had to admit that Palpatine did a great job to create such a story. A plot orchestrated by the jedi order to take control of the Galaxy... Our reputation had already suffered of the Clone Wars and the public did no longer see us as protectors and guardians of peace. Palpatine only took advantage of this situation and, in giving order 66, not only assured the destruction of his arch enemy as Sith Lord but also rid the Galaxy of its greatest threat.

I could feel Padmé would no stay long after her full recovery. I could understand her, she didn't want to stay in the same place for too long. She was afraid of the renforcements the Stormtroopers who attacked her could have called. But there had been none so far and we hadn't heard of imperials looking for a fugitive. In this sort of occasions, they weren't famous for their discretion, interrogating people around and making public announcements that everybody should cooperate if they knew something. Even the corpses of the troopers we left behind didn't provoque any noticeable investigation. I had paid attention to not use my lightsaber to cause direct wounds thus they would believe their soldiers were killed in a shooting and no in a duel with a fugitive Jedi Knight...

A part of me wanted Padmé to stay. it was irrational considering we knew each other for one week only and there wasn't enough place for two people in my tiny flat... But I couldn't resign myself to live alone again. Was it possible to become attached to someone so quickly? For a Jedi who had been taught to no form attachments it was rather ironic. But as the line "there is no emotion, there is peace", the part of the code stating "There is no passion, there is serenity" implicitely saying that a Jedi should no form attachments he could put before the will of the Force was the most difficult to follow. I loved my mother, Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and my other friends at the Temple and it didn't make me a Sith. I remembered having long conversations with master yoda on this topic. I tried to explain him how my attachments made me stronger, helped me to go always further to reach my goal and protect those i loved, even more during the war. Yoda admitted once I may have a point but according to him, attachments were a weakness more then a strength, an easy target for an enemy to bring a Jedi on the edge of extreme measures to save them and experiencing feeling such as anger, fear or desire for revenge. And those were emotions of the Dark Side.

Padmé and I step out in the cool evening and headed to the bar. I had decided it was time for a night out. I thought it would be good for her to see other friendly faces as she had spent the last week secluded in my appartment. She already knew Niala and I was sure that she would get along with Tallan and Andra.

I knew that inconsciously, a part of me wanted to show her the good sides of a life on Gerrenthum. I realised that I was totally stupid and it might not change her mind on leaving this planet after her full recovery but I had to try. I couldn't ask er to stay, I would sound insane or I may even scare her. So I tried to be subtle. Would I success? Time would tell.

The feelings I had for Padmé were very new to me. I didn't know what they were exactly and I still wondered if I really became attached to her or to her presence that ended long years of solitude. She was indeniably beautiful but I knew it wasn't only physical desire. I had already desired other women before-as every teenagers under hormonal influence- but I had never been close to one. Neither physically nor emotionally. It wasn't the main preoccupation of a Jedi Padawan and when I could have been old enough to be interested in women, I was too busy fighting on the front during the war.

It was then impossible to analyse my feelings for Padmé. But maybe I shouldn't try to put words on them and just enjoy her presence as long as she would be willing to stay. A thing I learnt during my two years on the run was to enjoy the present moment and not make plans in the long run.

We reached the bar soon enough and I pushed the door. I step aside to let Padmé pass and she gave me a pleased smile. I took her to a table where I had seen Tallan and Niala already talking.

"Hey guys!" I greeted them.

"Hey Akin." Niala smiled. "Ami, it's nice to see you again and in better condition."

Thanks." Padmé nodded with a smile.

"Ami, I introduce you Tallan." I said, pointing at my friend. "Tallan, this is Ami."

"Nice to meet you." Padmé replied politely.

"My pleasure."

I saw the way Tallan looked at her and I raised an eyebrow. My heart suddenly beat faster and the thought he had no right to look at her as she was a price of some sort rushed to my consciousness. Force, I was being jealous, what a fool!

Padmé and I sat at the table and Andra soon came to take our order and she also seemed pleased to meet my companion.

"Where do you come from, Ami?" Tallan asked, looking at Padmé with his glass of Corellian Ale in his hands.

"Kor Vella." she answered as Andra gave her a glass of KyLessian Fruit.

"Corellian then? You must be a match for Akin's bad tempered character."

I was drinking my Tatooine Suburn when Tallan gave me a strange look. I coughed and glared at him, trying to find my breath.

"I must say that we have our moments." Padmé smiled.

"She's as stubborn as a Bantha!" I assured.

"How do you know that a Bantha is stubborn?" Niala asked jokingly.

I mumbled something unintelligible and stopped myself from telling them that, born on Tatooine, I knew how difficult a Bantha could be. But they didn't know I was from Tatooine then I just shut my mouth and kept my gaze on my glass.

Padmé, Tallan and Niala started an animated conversation and after five minutes of silence I joined them. Thus I learnt that Padmé was from a family of space pilots and she had traveled a lot all around the Galaxy.

Tallan and Padmé started talking of the different planets they visited. They described us the wonders of Alderaan, the marvelous architecture of Coruscant. I stopped myself once more, because if they knew that I've lived for almost two decades on Capital City, it would raise their suspitions. It was fascinating to see Padmé talking about all those journeys, all those places she had seen. I didn't know what was true and what was part of her false identity but her feelings in the Force were genuine.

Something changed when they started talking about Naboo. They explained Niala and I that it was a beautiful planet near the Outter Rim Territories. The capital, Theed, was a wonder of architecture and the nature around was apparently marvelous. Padmé was the one who told us the most about this planet and she seemed to know it very well.

But what I could feel at that very instant in the Force was more than a simple affection for a place you visited once, twice or even several times. Coming from Padmé, I could feel waves of melancoly and longing. The same feeling I had when I thought of Coruscant and especially the Jedi Temple. It was a longing for home. She missed Naboo. Deeply. Was it her home planet? It could be a possibility.

I had never been on Naboo but I knew about it through the different tales that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan shared with me and sometimes my fellow padawans in a collective lesson of history. When they were still master and padawan, they had been sent by the Council to resolve the conflict between the Trade Federation and the Government of Naboo. But I had a very bad memory when it came to places, dates and names.

During the rest of the evening, I could see that Padmé was in a more melancolic mood. Talking about Naboo had affected her more than she wanted to let us see. She got along with my friends though and I was secretly glad that they talked with her as she was part of the group.

At one point, Tallan and I decided to go to the bar and order another serie of cocktails whilst Niala and Padmé stayed at the table. The place was unusually crowded on that evening and Andra had her hands full.

Tallan told our order to one of the other waitress and as we were waiting for it, he looked at me intently. "What is it between Ami and you?" he finally asked.

"What do you mean, between Ami and I?"

"Don't be silly, mate. I saw the way you looked at her and how the both of you acted with the other."

"There's nothing." I stated. "We are just friends."

"Niala told me what happened, how you rescued her in this alley... I didn't know you were the 'knight in his shining armor' kind of guy."

I smiled inwardly before the irony of the situation. "Me, a knight? You're kidding me."

"You do like her, don't you?"

"Who?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"You know what I mean." Tallan insisted. "Ami... You like her a lot."

I didn't answer right away. Was I so obvious that even my friend could read me like an open book? Did Padmé know as well? And if she did, did it really matter?

I sighed and looked up at Tallan again. "You might be right." I replied with a shrug.

"What don't you do anything about it then?"

"It's complicated..." I answered nonchalently.

"I don't see why it's complicated. You like her, she seems to like you as well... Just go and tell her. There's no big deal."

I contemplated Tallan's words for a while before the waitress gave us our order. We went back to the table where Padmé and Niala were chatting happily. I gave her glass to Padmé and she thanked me with a lovely smile.

Lovely smile? Where did that come from exactly? Since when was I the romantic type? It wasn't a good thing. I couldn't become more attached to her than I already was. She would be leaving soon and I would stay alone once more with nothing else that a bunch of regrets and a crush that even a teenager wouldn't have dared to have in the first place.

But it felt right somehow. I knew it was the Force which guided me to Padmé. I had been a Jedi long enough to know there was nothing such as luck in this galaxy. Coincidences? Perhaps. But such a strong insistance of the Force to save someone with whom I shared so many things? Better call me the right hand of the Emperor.

It was almost midnight when Padmé and I gave our farewells to the rest of the group and headed out for my appartment. We walked in a confortable silence until Padmé said:

"They are all very nice."

"They are indeed." I nodded. "You seem to get along especially with Niala."

"She told me a lot of things about her home planet." she confirmed. "I've never been on Shili so that was really intresting for me."

"She's a very intresting person and life hasn't always been nice with her."

"That I understood." Padmé smiled. "But Tallan is a nice person as well."

"Yeah... He sometimes doesn't know when to shut is mouth but he's nice anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice how he has been flirting with you at the beginning of the evening?"

"I did noticed." Padmé admitted. "But he stopped afterwards so no wrong has been done."

I simply shrugged and the silence fell between us once more. We soon reached my building and we took the old turbolift to go to the upper floor.

I was the first to go to the fresher to get ready for the night as Padmé was drinking a cup of tea in the living room. She then took my place and I prepared the couch for the night

I sat crosslegged on its matress, ready for a quick meditation before going to bed when I felt the presence of Padmé in the room. She leaned against the frame of the door, her arms folded on her chest. She was wearing a long blue night gone and her long black curles fell down her back. She had never been so beautiful than on that instant and I gave in to that romantic part of me which wanted to be heard. As long I didn't become totally soppy and cheesy...

"Are you ready for the night?" I asked her, getting up from the couch.

"I am." she answered with a sweet smile and stepped closer to me.

We say nothing and stopped only a short distance away from each other. I could see the depth of her dark eyes staring back at me and my heart pounded furiously in my chest. I could feel an unknown warmth raising in my body and I realised that it was desire. I desired Padmé. In fact, I had a furious need to kiss her, right there, right now.

She startled me out of my contemplation when she said, her voice lower than usual: "Thank you for tonight. It's been a long time since I last spent a nice time with friendly people."

"You're... welcome." I managed to reply with an hoarse voice. "I'm glad you had a good time."

Padmé smiled and stepped once more, even more close than before. I felt a lump in my throat but I tried to remain calm. Our eyes were locked together and I could feel the warmth of her body, the delicate smell of her natural perfume. I had to make a great deal of effort to not kiss her. But I couldn't stay like that, motionless and speechless.

Then I opted for a compromise and leant to her. I gently kissed her forehead. I felt Padmé shivering and I could almost imagine her closing her eyes. I eventually stepped back, too soon for my taste and I brushed her cheek in a light touch, my hand lingering on her skin. Her own hand came to cover mine and we exchanged a gaze full of a new emotion I couldn't describe. Complicity? Desire? I couldn't tell but it was heavy in the air and filled the atmosphere with electricity.

Padmé's arm eventually dropped back along her body and I retired my hand reluctantly.

"Good night, Anakin." she whispered.

"Good night... Padmé." I answered.

She smiled a last time and turned back to enter my room. The door slid shut behind her and I stood there, in the middle of my living room for a long time. I finally got back to reality and ran a hand through my hair.

I didn't know what to think. I felt that Padmé wanted to leave Gerrenthum but what I saw in her eyes just minutes ago was telling the opposite. It gave me hope for the future. For a future together. Was I too presumptuous? Was it too soon to think such things when I had only knew her for a couple of days?

I knew I wasn't in love with her. Love was a feeling to strong to be taken lightly. But I felt something very strong for her and I didn't want to let her go. Maybe I should wait just to see what the future held in store for us. There was nothing else I could do.

But for the first time in years, I had hope.

oxoOoxo

Here it is, hope you enjoyed it!

I just wanted to thank Wookiepedia for the Corellian insults and the name of the cocktails.

I'll be re-editing the first four chapters of this story very soon, mostly for grammar and spelling. There are also a few details I changed because they caused problems. If you don't want to read the story all over again, that I can understand, here are the things I changed.

In chapter 3, when Anakin remembers is fight with the stormtroopers in the alley, he doesn't use his lightsaber to cut one of the clones' arm. I thought afterwards that a wound with a lightsaber was too obvious and the imperials would have guessed that he was a Jedi.

In chapter 4, Padmé introduced herself to Niala as Padmé, it's obviously with her false identity of Ami she should do it, then I changed it.

Thanks again to all of you!


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